25 years later: the Kanishka tragedy
June 23, 2010 marks the 25th anniversary of Air India bombing, the worst act of aviation terrorism in history. The Air India flight 182 was flying over the Atlantic Ocean en route New Delhi from Montreal via London on June 23, 1985 when it exploded in mid-air, killing all 329 people on board, including 22 crew members.
The explosion was caused by a bomb which was detonated in the cargo bay of the plane which consequently crashed it into the sea, 190 km from the coast of Ireland. A separate luggage bomb destined for a second Air India flight killed two Japanese baggage handlers and injured four at Tokyo's Narita airport the same day.
The prolonged investigation and trial of the case which lasted 20 years and cost the Canadian government nearly 130 million Canadian Dollars finally ended in a 10-year sentence for the bomb-maker but the conspirators walked free.
@ WK,thanks mate,couldn't recall that name...
"Babbar Khalsa" group was the prime suspect.
@ britexpat..."Khalistan liberation force" or some such they called themselves,a sort of loose consortium of the Sikh separatist groups who peaked through the '80's & early 90's, were responsible. India & the world pretty much knew & confirmed it,they just had to prove it in a court of law,which they didn't end up doing after "20 years & 130 million Canadian dollars"...claiming responsibility would REALLY turn the heat on them,it couldn't have been anyone but them behind it,directly or indirectly,they achieved their end & got their message across,without claiming direct responsibility...win-win for them...& despite the fact that the movement has all but died out in India,it still has some support amongst the Sikh Canadian community,largely due to the fact that many Sikh millitants sought refuge,illegally of course, in Canada after the movement began losing steam & support in India...
A tragedy indeed.. May they all rest in peace.
One strange thing about this tragedy - No organisation claimed responsibility.
Let us stand united and drown our sorrows together...
I will wait till tomorrow to drown my sorrow...
very sry to those who lost their life in thiese kind of tragedy.lets pray for thm.
Had India's concern on terrorism heard by the international community at that time, there would have no Al qaida or any other terror organizations existing today. But sorry, US had different idea!
We are the creators of our distroyers
That was when I really heard the word terrorism...what a great tragedy..
Soniya, infact i wanted to put there only, but some how it came into QLL
hms, it would have been better if u could have post this in in QLIG..
That was the really tragic incident happened newhere in the world...My heartiest condolence goes to those families who've lost their near and dear ones...